Medallion found near St. Mary's

An enterprising teenage duo captured the 2014 medallion award near St. Mary's, ending this year's hunt and winning $500.

By Heidee ProsserDodge City Daily Globe

Over a week into the search for the medallion with a $500 ransom, a pair of teenage girls walked into the Dodge City Daily Globe bearing the shiny belt buckle, ready to receive payment.

The unstoppable team who came across the medallion was made up of cousins Anna Harding, 15, and Paige Harding, 15.

"The latitude and longitude clue was what really helped us out," the duo said. After two hours of tramping through the shelter belt on the south side of St. Mary's, they unburied the medallion on Tuesday afternoon.

"My first thought when we found it was that my dad and uncle were going to be so proud," Paige said between excited laughs.

Anna Harding wasn't forming many thoughts when they found it, she said. "I just kind of screamed and was so excited."

Although Paige said she had looked a little bit last year for the medallion, this was the first time she had really invested her time into it and her and Anna have been looking every day since the Saturday parade.

The medallion is hidden within a five mile radius of Downtown Dodge City every year, isn't buried and doesn't require any climbing. Other than this basic information, people on the quest must rely on the clues provided by the Dodge City Daily Globe in order to find it.

Beginning Monday July 21, a clue has been published every day as to help the medallion hunters uncover its hiding place.

Ed O'Neal, circulation manager at Dodge City Daily Globe, has been hiding the medallion and creating the clues since the early 90s when the idea first came about. Below are his explanations of each clue for this year's hunt:

A little shade would be nice: go to the shade, not away from it
Little history here to be told: it was located at St. Mary of the Plains college which has history to tell in Dodge City
Not near water: self-explanatory
Something old, something new: located at the old four-year college and Dodge is getting a new four-year college
Off the main trail: the medallion was in a shelter belt and wasn't along the walking trails on campus
You should know your alphabet: it was west of Avenue A; refers to the YMCA; also refers to the location of the old school
Look along lines of latitude not longitude: means to look east and west, not north and south
O'Neal said that his favorite part of being in charge of the medallion each year is getting to write the clues and see what people think they mean. The one year that he was not in charge of the medallion, it was never recovered and he has had the job all to him self ever since.

This year's reward for the medallion was sponsored by Phillips Chiropractic and Physical Therapy Center.

The Harding cousins have yet to decide their final plans for the money.

This article has been corrected to reflect that the YMCA is certainly not a "future" YMCA and St. Mary's will not be the site of the new college, that will just be at DCCC. Also, blame the editor, and not Ed, Ed said.

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